Drama-rama

I just want to say that I have the utmost respect for Jenni and the way that she handled herself during what can only be described as a living nightmare. In the weeks that followed, she always comported herself with the utmost grace and dignity. Under undeniably arduous circumstances, she continued to show up for work with a smile when her heart must have been breaking. Her courage, bravery, and strength to continue on with her life under the microscope of the cameras still amazes me. Jenni Pulos is one strong, sassy sistah. She is a true class act.

Chris' departure affected everyone in different ways. At the time he left, I had only been working for Jeff for about a month. Although I didn't know him for a long period of time, Chris was always a hoot to work with -- he always made me laugh. Just like Jenni and Jeff, I think he is a comic genius. He took great pride and care in trying to teach me the ins and outs of working for Jeff -- he tried to set me up for success with my new job. He was a good friend to me in those early days and for that I will always be grateful. I wish him the best.

Before Chris left I generally worked three or four days a week. At the beginning, I would always work Wednesdays on Jenni's day off. I think everyone knew how excited I was to be working for Jeff and for the opportunity that had fallen into my lap. So, on Jenni's day off I would split my chores at the house with Chris and then would go with Jeff in the afternoon to shadow him on the job sites.The idea was that I would start to learn how things operated not only on the home front, but out in the field as well. This was like dream-a-little-dream heaven for me! It made all of the mundane household chores palatable. I felt like I was learning and going someplace. I loved being able to see Jeff in action and witness firsthand how he would go into a prospective property and evaluate its potential. It was so cool to see him say "Yeah, we'll take down that wall, open this up, put a window here so you can see the view and that will increase the value of the house by X amount of money ..." I'm telling you, he's like an interior design Rain Man! Tasks like staging Valley Oak and getting to paint the mock-ups at Encino weren't everyday occurrences but they were my bread and butter. Unquestionably, they were the highlight of my workdays when they came around.

As far as finding out about the nanny cam, I was a little stunned. However, I knew I hadn't done anything wrong so I wasn't afraid of any possible repercussions. The whole situation was just sad. Sad for Chris. Sad for Jenni. And sad for Jeff, too. I know it really hurt him to see Jenni so distraught. And from what I knew to be true, all of them had shared a lot of life and a lot of memories together. It wasn't easy for anyone.

I'll be honest, from the start, I was always kind of a little afraid of Jeff. Especially in the beginning, I felt like I walked on eggshells because I didn't want to anger him or disappoint him. After the incident with the nanny cam, it was even more important to me to try and do the best possible job I could for him. I didn't want to f**k up. I respected him, his work, and wanted to prove to him that he could entrust me with more responsibility. The opportunity to learn from someone that talented and that successful was not something I ever took lightly.

As the ol' saying goes, life does go on! It certainly does at Casa Lewis and in the next episode you'll start to see the long-term effect working full-time for Jeff (without another house assistant) has on me. My el-sensitivo side comes out in full swing, baby! Any of my girls out there got a Kleenex for New Chris??!!